Heckler & Koch failed to reply, so 28 days later, groups of concerned citizens set out to audit the arms company and to pose the question to the people of Nottingham: “What are they hiding?”

Registered Delivery

One group of citizen auditors headed to the arms company’s secret warehouse; the unmarked Unit 3 at Easter Park on Lenton Lane. Going by the name of Artichokes War, they carried with them a letter reiterating the need for H&K to address public concerns, and inviting the company to give any reasons for its failure to be transparent.

Nottinghamshire police usually prevent any suspected campaigners from entering Easter Park on foot, so to avoid being stopped, the auditors simply entered the industrial park in a taxi. Once inside, they auditors approached the gate of Heckler & Koch under the watchful eye of two officers.

The auditors buzzed the intercom and a female employee responded. They explained to her that they were there to personally deliver a letter. The disembodied voice asked them to just leave their letter on the ground by the car park gate, but the auditors stood their ground. This was a registered delivery, they explained. They needed a signature. The intercom spoke again: Someone would be out shortly to collect the letter.

Five minutes passed… ten minutes… No-one emerged from the arms company’s secure warehouse. The police came over to find out what the auditors were up to, then went away again.

Finally, after half an hour of waiting, one of the auditors climbed over the barbed fence into the employees car park and walked up to the front door and rang the bell. No-one responded, so he pushed the letter through the letterbox and returned to the car park gate… only to find that he had now become a prisoner of Heckler & Koch!

It seems that the arms company were so afraid of the citizens’ audit that they dared not even buzz open the car park gate. Unable to climb back out the way he had got in, the auditor remained trapped until the police intervened.

Sadly, due to H&K’s reticence, the auditors failed, not only to review H&K’s sales records, but even to get a signature for their delivery. Fortunately there’s more than one way to record a delivery, and the auditors’ video record shows that the arms company has received the letter outlining concerns about its dodgy export deals. As to why the company has failed to reply; in the words of one auditor, “Maybe they have something to hide.”

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Street Theatre: What are they hiding?

Meanwhile, in the city centre, a group of activists was creating a curious spectacle for the public. A giant and mysterious object, covered by green tarpaulin and camo netting appeared on Market Square, surrounded by placards asking “What’s going on?” and “What are they hiding?”

When bemused passers by approached, the sound of gunfire was heard from under the tarpaulin, which promptly collapsed. The tarp was then drawn aside, revealing a tangled pile of bodies representing the victims of H&K weapons.

Passers by stopped to chat with the campaigners and were interested to learn about the local arms company and its refusal to answer questions about its dodgy arms exports. This piece of hastily-devised street theatre was replayed at Speakers’ Corner and by St Peter’s Church, where it attracted the most interest.

Finally, having collected many petition signatures and handed out thousands of leaflets, the campaigners marched single file bearing placards out to Heckler & Koch’s home on Lenton Lane. Despite being denied entry to Easter Park by Nottinghamshire Police, the activists ended their long day of campaigning in high spirits.

National Solidarity

Most of the street theatre group and the citizen auditors were veteran peace activists from around the country (and around the world), who were in Nottingham to attend the Peace News Winter Gathering. It meant a lot to local campaigners to have their support. The campaign against Heckler & Koch will keep pressing for answers in the year to come.

A 25-foot long model of a H&K weapon had been built from a frame of willow wood, covered and painted black, and bearing the legend popularised by Brighton’s anti-arms-trade campaign Smash EDO: “Every bomb and every bullet fired is made somewhere… Find it… Resist it!”

This gun was carried by the demonstrators in a long march from the Arboretum to the gates of Easter Park – the Lenton Lane industrial site that contains H&K’s warehouse. In returning the gun to the company that produced it, the demonstrators made a highly visible statement that H&K’s dirty business is not wanted by the people of Nottingham.

This demonstration was organised by the Nottingham Arms Dump project, independently of, but in solidarity with the long-running Shut Down H&K campaign, whose monthly picket took place four days earlier. For the first time, there were two demonstrations against Heckler & Koch in the same week!

Despite the fact that this was a peaceful demonstration, H&K’s landlord, the car insurance company LV=, asked police to prevent demonstrators from delivering the gun to the gate of Heckler & Koch. The Shut Down H&K campaign has called for a boycott of LV=, which knowingly profits from the arms trade.

The 25ft gun was modelled on the Heckler & Koch MP5. Developed in the 1960s, this submachine gun remains one of H&K’s bestselling products. Among the infamous users of the MP5:

A child poses with an MP5 in an al-Qaeda propaganda video. Not a good look for Heckler & Koch.

• Indonesia’s feared special forces unit Kopassus, which has been accused of many human rights abuses.
• Thailand, which until 2003 used the MP5 to execute prisoners in Bangkwang prison.
• The Sri Lankan army, which was recently accused of war crimes as it moved to crush Tamil resistance in the north of the country.
• Children in Iraq trained to fight by Al-Qaeda.

Anti-militarists hold Heckler & Koch and its employees responsible for the death and destruction that has been caused by weapons such as the MP5, and will continue campaigning against the company’s UK office until it has been shut down.

In 2009 Heckler & Koch will be 60 years old. In order to pre-empt the company’s birthday celebrations, German peace groups organised a protest with the slogan 60 Jahre Heckler & Koch: kein Grund zum Feiern (60 Years of Heckler & Koch: No Cause for Celebration). The Nottingham activists were invited to a March 7^th demonstration by the peace groups RIB, ORL and DFG-VK, who also funded their journey.

In Germany, the damning case against Heckler & Koch was laid out in a lecture by the country’s leading anti-arms-trade campaigner Jürgen Grässlin. Speaking on the eve of the demonstration at a hall in the town of Rottweil, Grässlin talked about H&K’s history of arming repressive regimes. He showed the audience slides of H&K rifles in the hands of genocidal militias, and presented a pair of flip-flops he had taken from a Sudanese mass grave of people executed with H&K guns.

Then it was the turn of the Nottingham delegation to speak about their campaign and how H&K has used its UK operation to evade arms embargoes and supply guns that were used in human rights abuses in countries like Bosnia, Sudan, Ecuador and Indonesia. The German audience was genuinely shocked to hear about the tactics used by Nottinghamshire Police to suppress the campaign. The audio and transcript of the speech are available here.

[audio http://nottsantimilitarism.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/hk-speech-2009-03-062.mp3]

Heckler & Koch’s global HQ is in the picturesque South-West German town of Oberndorf am Neckar, far from the misery inflicted by its trade. The theme of the demonstration was Maskerade des Todes (Masquerade of the Dead) signifying the estimated 1.5 million people who have been killed by H&K weapons. Some 200 demonstrators gathered at the railway station in the midday sunshine and listened to music and speeches before setting off on a march into the town centre.

Many of the marchers were dressed all in black, their faces covered by white deathmasks. Some bore crosses with the names of countries in which people have been killed with H&K weapons, while others carried signs saying “I am a soft target” – a reference to the euphemistic description of human beings in H&K’s marketing brochures. Still more marchers were dressed as soldiers, arms industry execs or bankers, and a lone clown played the funeral drum.

The marchers gathered around a cobbled square and watched as a piece of street theatre played out before them. First the board of H&K toasted their booming business with champagne and then none other than Death himself took centre stage, praising H&K – his favourite company – for sending him so many souls. The Grim Reaper personally congratulated the CEO of H&K, who offered to replace his ageing scythe with a more efficient, modern tool – a Heckler & Koch assault rifle. Death was pleased!

Next Jürgen Grässlin delivered a powerful denunciation of Heckler & Koch, listing the company’s many shameful dealings – a history that gives no cause for celebration. Finally the Nottingam delegation stepped up to speak, thanking the German campaigners for inviting them, and delivering the message that opposition to the arms trade must be as global as the arms trade itself. In an overwhelming show of solidarity, the German campaigners had an impromptu whip-round that raised €270 for the UK campaign.

The British activists were struck by the differences between this demonstration and the demos against H&K in Nottingham. First of all, the police presence was nowhere near as oppressive. There were about half a dozen German police who maintained a respectful distance, and very little police surveillance. By contrast, every Nottingham picket has been attended by numerous riot vans with at least one policeperson for every demonstrator, and constant and oppressive surveillance, despite the fact that these demonstrations have always been peaceful. The second difference is that the Heckler & Koch HQ in Oberndorf is well signposted, as opposed to the Nottingham depot, which is completely unsignposted, hidden in an unmarked warehouse as if ashamed of its business.

The demonstration was reported favourably on German TV news and in local newspapers and was filmed for a documentary about Grässlin. The collaboration between the German and British campaigns has been a boost for both, and they will continue to work together in a spirit of international solidarity against the arms trade.

The Notts Indymedia photo report has more pictures of the speeches in Rottweil (part 2) and the demo at Oberndorf (part 3 and part 4). Monthly demonstrations against Heckler & Koch in Nottingham will continue with a picket on Tuesday April 14^th and a special campaign anniversary demo on Monday May 11^th.

The demonstration was well attended by supporters of both campaigns and others. Although the German Market and other seasonal festivities were in progress in the Square, the protest was still very visible, with colourful placards, banners, flags and banging drums. A die-in by those brave enough to lie for some time on the Square’s chilly marble slabs created a distinct space, which attracted people’s attention.

Demonstrators gave out 2000 flyers to Christmas shoppers, making them aware of Nottingham arms exporter Heckler & Koch. Refugees and asylum seekers from countries ravaged by the effects of small arms were there to support the demo.

Despite over-the-top police surveillance and the disruption caused by a council vehicle parking in the middle of the protest, the demonstration successfully delivered its message to the heart of a busy city. Many members of the public were shocked to hear about the arms company in their neighbourhood.

You can find more photo reportage on the Notts Indymedia and Notts Refugee Forum websites.

1. Britain is now the world’s largest arms exporter; responsible for one third of the world’s arms exports. According to UN figures, Britain exports hundreds of thousands of guns every year. The Nottingham office of arms company Heckler & Koch has exported nearly £15 million worth of guns since 2002.
2. Such weapons invariably find their way to repressive regimes and warzones, fuelling conflict around the world. H&K guns have been used by child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, by the invading Georgian army in South Ossetia, by the Janjaweed militia in Darfur and by mercenaries in Iraq.
3. Millions of people are forced to flee their homes to escape these wars. According to the UN, “Armed conflict is now the driving force behind most refugee flows… Refugee movements are no longer side effects of conflict, but in many cases are central to the objectives and tactics of war.”
4. Ten of thousands of refugees who flee to the UK are refused asylum and face deportation to countries that the UK Foreign Office considers dangerous, including Iraq, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (all countries in which H&K guns have been used).

To highlight the link between the arms trade and aylum seekers, and to call for an end to exporting arms and deporting refugees, Shut Down H&K and No Borders Nottingham will hold a demonstration called FULL CIRCLE on Saturday 29^th November on Nottingham’s Old Market Square.

You can now download flyers and posters for this event.

Shut down Heckler & Koch!
Freedom of movement and the right to remain for all!
No guns, no borders!

Of course these guns were super-soakers, and the victims suffered nothing worse than soggy clothes. But beside the fun there was a serious message: The victims of Heckler & Koch’s guns don’t get away so lightly. Victims such as the villagers in Kosovo massacred by Serbian police armed with H&K submachine guns. Victims such as the prisoners in Thailand tied to a cross and executed with a H&K machine gun.

Despite the secrecy that surrounds Heckler & Koch, the Shut Down H&K campaign continues to uncover more information about the dodgy regimes that buy these weapons, and the abuses being carried out with them. At July’s demonstration, the charges against H&K were read out over a megaphone while protesters handed out leaflets to passers by. Meanwhile a sound system provided music, and Veggies catering campaign provided vegan food so good that even the police were asking for some!

For more words and pictures, see Tash’s write-up on Indymedia.

Protesters of all ages gathered in the sunshine with a variety of colourful banners and placards, some dressed as casualties of war – a reminder of the 1.5 million people who have been killed by Heckler & Koch’s deadly products. From busy Abbey Bridge, the protesters marched along Lenton Lane to the small industrial park that contains H&K’s unmarked warehouse. Around 40 police were waiting, to prevent entry into the industrial park. Around the corner, mounted police were on standby.

The demonstrators gathered on either side of the gate and listened to speeches about the devastating effect of Heckler & Koch’s weapons in countries around the world. Hundreds of leaflets explaining the purpose of the demonstration were handed out to passers by, some of whom honked their horns in approval. There was a speech about the inspirational Smash EDO campaign, which has been very effective in targeting an arms company in Brighton. A portable sound system played reggae in the sunshine.

Efforts to garner media coverage revealed a famliar pattern: Having received a press release about the demonstration, reporters contacted Heckler & Koch for a statement. To make this unwanted media attention go away, H&K then called Notts police, whose press office called the media outlets, telling their editors that it would be irresponsible for them to cover the story as it could lead to criminals trying to break in to steal weapons stored at Heckler & Koch’s premises.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that this reason is bogus: The fact is that the location of the company is already in the public domain. It is available to anyone with an internet connection, and not just on various campaign websites, but from Companies House and the British Defence Equipment Catalogue and various other sources. If the building can be discovered by peace campaigners, then it can be discovered by criminal gangs.

If the security policy of H&K and Notts police relies on no-one finding out the company’s location, then clearly it is they who are irresponsible, not the campaign or the media. A large warehouse stocked with high-power assault rifles and submachine guns with inadequate security to prevent a robbery is clearly a significant danger to the public, and such a danger is very much in the public interest.

Despite this, some media outlets acquiesced to the police request, choosing to accept self-censorship rather than challenge the police. Fortunately ITV Central News was not scared off, and broadcast a report on the 10 o’clock news.

Despite the lawful nature of the protest, police surveillance was oppressive. Evidence Gatherers from the local force were supplemented by the officers of a Forward Intelligence Team in systematically photographing and filming protesters throughout the demonstration. Two protesters were threatened with arrest for blocking a FIT cameraman’s view of the demonstration, and another two were followed by police after the demonstration.

However, spirits remained high throughout the 90-minute picket – in the words of one protester, “a very dehydrating demonstration of big love!” The demo was judged to be a great success by those who attended. It was a fantastic turn-out, and a good start to the campaign. (Pictures courtesy of Tash. For more see Notts Indymedia.)

The demo took place on a sunny afternoon outside Heckler & Koch’s office at Easter Park on the Lenton Lane industrial estate. About 35 people turned up, Nottingham residents young and old, including activists from Greenpeace, CND and Stop The War. A variety of colourful banners and placards was displayed, and leaflets were handed out to passers-by, who had been unaware that their employer’s neighbour is a major arms dealer. Sadly, having heard about the demo, Heckler & Koch closed its office for the afternoon!

There were a couple of speeches on the evils of the arms trade and Heckler & Koch in particular. The list of repressive regimes and conflict zones that H&K guns have been exported to was read out over a megaphone. Having noticed that the company had failed to signpost their office, activists decided to help them out by clearly labelling the entrance to the industrial park “Heckler & Koch (arms dealers)”.

There was a large police presence, including officers from the Forward Intelligence Team who had come all the way from London to keep protesters under surveillance with their gigantic cameras. Despite the peaceful nature of the demo, vehicles leaving the demo were photographed and in some cases followed by the police. One protester was pulled over on the pretext of looking “too young”, asked to confirm that he had been at the demo and made to show his driving license (presumably so he could be added to a list of potential troublemakers).

Heckler & Koch tried and failed to keep the demo out of the media. The police, PR and legal response on behalf of the company only succeeded in showing how much the demo rattled its cage. The story was reported in local TV, radio and print news, and you can see pictures on IndyMedia.

The ROF houses the manufacturing facility of BAE’s small arms subsidiary Heckler & Koch. BAE Systems recently won a contract to supply 600 000 Heckler & Koch assault rifles to Turkey – a country with a record of severe repression of the Kurdish people, against whom Turkey has pursued a policy of cultural destruction and ethnic cleansing.

Five campaigners braved the cold and early hour to leaflet the workers as they went in at 06:30 in the morning. The workers were friendly and most took a leaflet. 10 MoD police were present, filming the campaigners.

11 people took part in the afternoon demonstration at 15:30, with some handing out leaflets and others holding a banner for passing vehicles, some of which beeped in support. Radio Trent broadcast an interview, and a local free paper The Topper sent a photographer.

Another five Nottingham activists travelled to the BAE Systems AGM in London to join a peaceful picket outside and a noisy protest inside the meeting.